Pre-purchase Guild Wars 2 Now! Details Inside!

Written by: Ryan Verniere (@Shaddoe) | April 10, 2012 12:16 pm

86 Comments

Last night at midnight, ArenaNet opened the floodgates to fans of their newest MMORPG Guild Wars 2.

You may pre-purchase your copy of a standard edition, digital deluxe edition, or a collector’s edition from the official GW2 site or a multitude of retailers.

Buy.GuildWars2.com gives players all the possible options for retail sales as does nearly every GameStop world wide. However, BestBuy in the US, EBGames in Canada and Australia, and Zavvi in the UK offer a pre-purchase for the Collector’s Edition as well. Thankfully, Guild Wars 2 does offer a full listing of retailers on its website. Unfortunately, some retailers have already sold out of the CE; however, most still carry the standard version which can be upgraded to the digital deluxe version for a small additional cost.

The community managers at ArenaNet were quick to clarify a couple of questions potential customers had last night. First, although you will get a beta invite when you pre-purchase, this will not happen immediately. However, you will get an invite before the first beta weekend which is scheduled to be at the end of April. And if you purchased from a retail outlet, most likely your registration code will come in a pre-purchase box that will need to be shipped to you. So don’t fret if you don’t have an email with the code, yet.

And if you haven’t bought your copy yet, what are you waiting for?

Pre-purchase Guild Wars 2 Now! Details Inside!

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http://www.facebook.com/people/Dan-Nguyen/760155577 Dan Nguyen

I just went to GS to pre-purchase my CE of GW2. according to the GW2 faq we are supposed to get a key code that we will register to get in the beta weekend events. strangely enough the clerk told me that only the digital pre purchases will get the beta access, and that if i pre purchase the CE through them he wouldnt have a key code for me to register for the beta weekend event. i am planning on calling back later today to see if there is any change to his side of the story as i would like to get the CE. do you guys have any information on this??
- http://www.facebook.com/caskr Yong Kune Cho
  
  i think in the guldwars2 QA there was someting abiut the key will b in the box where as the other digital standard/deluxe key will b sent via email??? check there….
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Dan-Nguyen/760155577 Dan Nguyen
    
    i have read it. i even showed it to the guy at GS and he seemed clueless. i just want to be sure that when i pre purchase the CE from them i get my key for the beta weekend access
    - Hans Christoffer Sandnes
      
      You are supposed to get a standard sized box like this guy did, the moment you pre-purchase:
      http://lockerz.com/s/200192446
JJGlyph

Many GameStop & BestBuy retailers in the U.S. are not informed & have not gotten their pre-purchase boxes yet.

If you do not get a case with a serial key in it, then you are not doing it correctly! Be patient and wait for them to get the boxes.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Dan-Nguyen/760155577 Dan Nguyen
  
  so just to clarify when i go and buy the CE at GS. im supposed to get a physical box that has a key code inside of it??
  - JJGlyph
    
    Yes. My friend in Seattle sent me a photo on his phone of his. I’ve been watching twitter though and there are a ton of GS & BB stores that haven’t gotten the boxes yet. Mine is the same way.
    
    If you want, you can pre-order the pre-purchase to improve your chances… but make sure you go back to the store within a week or so to get your box.
    - http://www.facebook.com/people/Dan-Nguyen/760155577 Dan Nguyen
      
      o ok sweet thanks!! i think ill jsut go and prepurchase and go back for it when it comes in then
      - JJGlyph
        
        Anet just tweeted something that confirms what I said…
        
        “We are working closely with our retail partners in North America to get more CE’s out there, soon they will be available at BestBuy ^AT”
        
        Sounds like they realize many retailers haven’t gotten the boxes yet.
MilamberNova

The Collector’s edition is already sold out everywhere in sweden.
- JJGlyph
  
  It might not be sold out. Sometimes retailers list products they haven’t received yet as “sold out”. I’d keep checking back with them.
  - MilamberNova
    
    Found it, it wasnt on any of the shops thats on the CE list though. Found out that 3-4 other companys are selling it aswell.
    - JJGlyph
      
      Are those companies going to send you the pre-purchase box though? If they don’t you aren’t going to get into beta or 3-day early access.
      - MilamberNova
        
        It says on the description that they will send out beta-key, so i hope so.
  - http://twitter.com/viiralicious Hans Kristian Åkerøy
    
    Komplett sweden have 80 CE pre purchase in stock when i checked.
Aliciabeme

Amazon still doesn’t have the pre-purchases available. =/
http://twitter.com/viiralicious Hans Kristian Åkerøy

I just ordered Collectors Edition from Komplett Norway
http://www.facebook.com/K0oty Samuel Koty Kotula

I cant even buy a normal edition in my country so im stuck with digital deluxe, i wanted CE tho :c
http://twitter.com/WaylandX JB

Jest got mine at Gamestop!
Keigh

I went with the Digital Deluxe, I would have loved the statue but I dont need the art book and etc.
http://twitter.com/MarkDanielNeale Mark Neale

Still not sure how this all works…

I’ve bought it at my local game shop, ‘EB Games’ here in Australia. They are on the official retailers list provided by ArenaNet.

EB Game’s has my money and will get me a CE box.

But when?

Are they (the retailer) meant to buy the product as of 10th of April so that I can gain this beta access?

If my game shop doesn’t do it, then sure, I’ll eventually get the CE GW2, but miss out on the beta access part of it.

I’ve tried to get information from EB Games but even they have no idea what’s going on.

Has ArenaNet informed the official retailers list of what they are meant to do?

Only they would know… because quite frankly, my gaming shop and I are confused. All I know is that they, my game shop has my money. Full. Paid. And I’m just sitting here twiddling my thumbs.
- JJGlyph
  
  EBGames Australia & Canada are both having the same problem GameStop & BestBuy America are having.
  
  Read my back-n-forth comments with Dan Nguyen below for details.
  - http://twitter.com/MarkDanielNeale Mark Neale
    
    Thanks JJGlyph.
    
    I would have expected, yes, expected, that ArenaNet would have done all this prior to now.
    
    My local EB Game shop has absolutely no idea what is going on.
    
    Based on your comments, and the tweets I am reading (although they are not specifically about EB Games per-sa), I am guessing that my money sitting with them is good. I’m guessing that they will at some stage be notified, a box will eventually come in and then I’ll be informed. It just may take a little longer than expected.
    
    Sound about right? Or am I misunderstanding?
    - JJGlyph
      
      Yep, sounds about right. Just called my GameStop (thanks Dan) & they have a keycode now (but no box). They got an e-mail from corporate explaining things.
      
      Keep pestering EBGames, something similar might happen with them.
      - http://twitter.com/MarkDanielNeale Mark Neale
        
        Will do, and thanks for the information JJ.
        
        About to head to bed, 3.30am here for me. Hopefully by the time I wake up, Anet will have an email in EBgames inbox for them.
Vrall

My Gamestop in Austria got ONE ce-box, which was reserved. If it were two, i would now hold one in my hands. The limitation is rather strict to say the least… The employee said the were promised 20, they actually got one… Same with gameware.at. Promised: 80. Got: 8. I don’t know if something went wrong with production, but this is frustrating. Very hard to give ArenaNet 150 euros these days…
Sirfuji

I just went for Standard, Im sure ncsoft will get enough of my cash with the micros transactions.
JJGlyph

ArenaNet just requested that you tweet them your GameStop location if they aren’t supplying the boxes yet. They want the location so they can get the ball rolling faster! Go go go!
Sirfuji

I bought the standard edition, not paying $150 for same extra stuff.. I would rather use the savings for the micro transactions. Just want the game and the beta and early play. The whole digitial deluxe and CE thing, is getting way out of hand.
- Reggie Green
  
  umm your post are so irrelative to this post..
  - Sirfuji
    
    you seemed confused.
Jason Haverfield

So I was at my GS this morning and the guy had a printout showing only the standard and deluxe version to pre-purchase with the beta key. He was clueless about the CE saying he did not have a way to charge for it and issue the beta key. So I gave him time to look into it, he later called me back and said a late email was just now put out by Anet saying they now have the sales code for the CE that will produce the beta key finally. (why was that so hard Anet?) So I will head back and buy the CE and will have a beta code on my receipt. I dont think there will be an actual pre-purchase box given out by most GS stores, but at least I will walk out of the store having bought the CE and beta key is in hand.!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Dan-Nguyen/760155577 Dan Nguyen

ok guys so this is for those who had the same problem as me with going to a retailer to prepurchase your gw2 CE. i live in the states and our retailer of choice for the ce is gamestop. i went there right when it opened and they said they dont have the keys for the beta access for the CE. so i didnt purchase it there. i went back home and stalked the fb for any updates. talked to JJGlyph. then i decided to go to another GS and jsut go ahead and pre-purchase the CE anyways and get the key when it comes in at a later date. 30 mins after i got home the clerk at GS called me and said he just got a email from his corporate for the keys. he gave me mine and i registered my acct and linked it on the designated website. all is good to go now.

so if your gs doesnt have them yet its ok i would just pre purchase anyways and wait for them to get the keys in and then get it later. that way u dont risk the ce selling out.

FYI: i did not get any physical box with a key in it
- JJGlyph
  
  Glad to hear it! I’ll re-contact my GameStop & see if they got a corporate e-mail about it.
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Dan-Nguyen/760155577 Dan Nguyen
    
    GL, see u in game
    - JJGlyph
      
      Got mine from GameStop now, woot! Good to goooooooo!
http://www.facebook.com/EmmanuelGonzalez66 Emmanuel Gonzalez

Better safe then sorry , got my DDE from buy.guildwars2 =)

A Box coud have been nice but, less game boxes i have the less wife aggro i get.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Ivan-Noa/100000016129555 Ivan Noa
  
  agree, buy.guildwars2.com was fast. Had my CDkey in the inboxs in under a min.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000103012311 Zhenhe Zhu
  
  You need kids to offtank the wife aggro dude.
  - http://www.facebook.com/K0oty Samuel Koty Kotula
    
    But who will then DPS her down ?
    - JJGlyph
      
      The dishes?
      - Raphael Widter
        
        You still think in a WoW way With GW2 You can now tank your wife, then get to cover in bed and dps her down while slowing her with dishes
      - Jado Cast
        
        HaHa, Awesome! I see what you did there, No Trinity. Don’t forget to roll left and take the trash out. :-)
http://www.facebook.com/people/Tory-Alexander/821021631 Tory Alexander

i’ve got mine XD
VT100

I think I’ll wait until Arena Net clarifies a few things:

- What do the extra in-game items in the Deluxe and Collector’s edition look like? If they want us to pay extra for some pets, they should at least show us what those pets look like.

- Will the extra items in the Deluxe edition be available as individual cash shop items? If not, will there be a way to upgrade the Standard edition to Deluxe and get those items? How much will it cost?

- What’s with the login restrictions? If I buy the game in the US and then go spend a couple of weeks in Europe or Asia, will they block me from logging into the game I paid for, using my laptop? Is that even legal?
- Jado Cast
  
  All great questions, and the best real legitimate criticism I’ve read regarding the CE. They should of done a CE video that shows all this stuff off and explain in detail. But, it doesn’t matter, they will still sell out the CE. I’m sure a few will be disappointed no matter what and flame them later as well.
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Baesel/11612845 Jason Baesel
    
    well I mean. most of the items are actually like…temporary? so that kind of doesnt matter. You can assume the rytlock miniature looks like…rytlock. but tiny. True enough on the elite skill, though I think theres sort of a drawing of it which is probably close enough to get an idea.
    
    But at least a good number of the CE edition hard copy items have been in various videos. buy.guildwars2.com has a little bit of a better look in a video they posted today.
    
    And yeah I dont know about login restrictions. Probably some sort of hacker thing, maybe you have to like. get your account activated for that area or something ive no idea. Curious though, never really thought about that.
  - VT100
    
    There are pictures / video showing the extra stuff in the CE (book, prints, 10-inch figurine, etc.). What’s missing is info about the in-game items (the ones that distinguish the SE from the DE).
1970Hendrix1970

I got my Digitasl Delux at 12:03 am west coast time U.S. on the main website. There was a bug when it was first available that prevented you from registering your account after you bought it but that was resolved at around 2am west coast time. I like that all the digital items were availabe without having to buy the toys of the collectors edition. Only thing I dont like is that you only get your game code for the purchase price and you dont get to download the client till Arena Net gets their ish together and emails you a link to the client.

So having the code is really meaningless for now…i basically paid 80 bucks for a string of letters seperated by dashes…weee….Arena Net should have had the beta ready day and date with prepurchase so prepurchasers word of mouth could get online and start the hype machine super nova, that would have jacked up purchases astronomically but I guess we will just have to settle for a tease for now…
- Jay
  
  LOL patience is a virtue…
JJGlyph

This is how your GameStop receipt should look.
http://imgur.com/zsvsx
JJGlyph

This is how your GameStop receipt should look: imgur (dot) com/zsvsx
http://www.kaiketsu.enjin.com/ Corey Jenkins

Got my DDE edition this morning!
Sharuko

Awesome to see NCSoft has confidence in their game! They only allow people that already paid for the game upfront, access beta because they are scared of cancellations after beta.
- snikendelarveføtter
  
  Awesome to see that the critics are still hanging on to a thread.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=518607879 Christopher Mitchell
  
  Actually, if you have followed any info on the beta you would know that pre-purchasing the game ‘guarantees’ you access to the open beta and if you don’t but you have signed up for it you still have a chance to get in. So your ill informed statement is just that, incorrect.
- VT100
  
  Anyone can sign up for the beta. And if you, as a (potential) buyer don’t have confidence in the game, why don’t you simply wait for it to actually be finished, released and reviewed? No one is forcing you to buy the game, and the people buying it aren’t using your money.
- Jay
  
  Hi Sharuko, still have yet to post one positive comment I see… Maybe next time.
- Jado Cast
  
  Sharuko, is the glass half empty or half full? Wait, don’t answer that, I think I already know. :-)
- http://twitter.com/hrafnagaldr M
  
  (Removed comment, did not see previous posts that said the same thing.)
JJGlyph

Please turn auto-play off
- Jado Cast
  
  +1 +1 +1 Please!
- Jado Cast
  
  Blizz Blues #54 didn’t auto Play!!! Maybe, just maybe they turned it off on new vid’s? *fingers crossed* :-)
Deathstar2x

I’d buy it in a heartbeat if only it were $100…

The $150 collector’s editions are getting out of hand.
- http://www.facebook.com/Deemo91 Matthew O’Neill
  
  I think there is enough in this one with the figurine and stuff to kinda justify it, but i know what you mean if it was a £70 one i would have bought it but being £100 is a bit too much for me, But i think with everything it includes it is worth it.
- Jado Cast
  
  I would get it, if there was in game items or perks that were permanent like in GW1. This was a pass for me, and I’m a big GW fan. Sorry Anet, but I’m sure you will still sell out of them.
  - James Lecouffe
    
    I feel the same way. The lack of value in the digital items is sad.
Krzysztof Kotarba

lolz… in my country GW2 is already sold out T_T
JJGlyph

Btw, your title on the main page should be “Buy the box. Buy the box. Buy the box.”
- Jado Cast
  
  That’s not very sustainable of you . . .
Bent Harley Lybech

Yay, Denmark got mentioned on gb.tv

You are my new favorite host Mike B :-p
https://www.youtube.com/user/Scyfo100 Scyfo aka Funkay

I ordered my Collector’s Edition from EBGames Aus I hope I get my pre-purchase box soon
http://www.facebook.com/people/Tomislav-Krznaric/1225770729 Tomislav Krznaric

when americans start whining about game prices i wana nuke them …….
- Jado Cast
  
  Take a number, and get in line like everyone else.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=518607879 Christopher Mitchell
  
  ”Ah man I just spent freakin 60 bucks on this game >.< oh whats that in the sky? Oh snap dude! Now we have another country to faceroll laaaawwwl"
  
  Yeah thats a great reason to make a stupid comment like yours but guess what, I can do it too!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Aaron-Cutright/1074012672 Aaron Cutright

My friends got me the CE for a wedding present. My wife was not as happy about that as I was; although, she is happy we are not paying for it. =) Best friends ever!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Steve-Lazarowitz/100000420795554 Steve Lazarowitz

My whole family got them last night…and I have the collectors edition on preorder at the local EBgames in Australia. Unfortunately they won’t have the boxes until the 16th but I can wait. I’ve waited this long.
Chiggz

not that it matters but I just wanted to let mike know, game in the uk is saved now so they will take pre orders and such and they are back to normal trading. Still probably not a good idea to get a preorder from them at the moment since they are still reordering stock and such but they are no longer in trouble.
Cyclops07

I got my DDE from Anet early this morning, I just hope this game even comes close to how good it sounds.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ryan-Morley/1440702532 Ryan Morley

I went to GS today and was given a reciept with the code on it around 3pm
TheBlank

I got mine from Gamestop online and they sent my code a little while later so nothing to worry about there .
pc11

Europe’s digital edition is 13 dollars more expensive! It’s digital! Dont give me distribution costs bulshit or tax difference.

Since accounts are not localized I am buying my digital copy in the US store and play in European servers.
- Shanaeri_Ryanle
  
  Accounts are localised. If you buy a US copy you wont be able to login to it within Europe, but once in you can play with anyone, anywhere.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=507687881 Kyle Schmelzer

I tried to buy it from the official site, when clicking “complete purchase” nothing happened. Waited 20 mins, checked bank account nothing there so tried again. Ended up buying two copies of the game, and still havent heard back from Anet about getting a refund on one of em. Im a bit disappointed atm, but im hoping Anet will come through for me.
Vidina_SS

I got the Beta Key from EB games Australia, I followed the steps to gain access to the beta however there seems to be a problem. The problem is that they sent me a E-mail, saying congrats on purchasing GW2 and they would send me a link to download the client shortly. However they still have not send me the link.

Anyone know why?
- http://twitter.com/Dagus_94 David Gustafsson
  
  I guess they send the DL link when they announce the next beta weekend so people can download before the actual weekend.. we dont wanna waste the beta downloading the client

Pre-purchase Guild Wars 2 Now! Details Inside!

Last Stand At Southsun May 28th

Guild Wars 2 Microtransactions: Still Consistent and Strong

Guild Wars 2 Expansion In The Works

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